F35: My Ultimate F35 Set-up with Codex and 3D printed parts

[Samana76]

Hello everyone,

I haven't been too active in the forums here for a very long while. I apologize to everyone whom I have not answered in previous forum messages. My life is taking a direction where I have not been able to dedicate too much time to the F35.

In any case, this post is not about the direction my life is taking but about my ultimate Sony F35 set-up. Ultimate because I believe it is the most complete, self-contained, compact and balanced setup out there; but ultimate also because this is my last set-up and post... more on this later.

Over two years ago when I discovered MacGregor’s first post "Just got a new camera - Sony F35" and the fabulous images this camera can create, I searched the web and read everything I could find on the F35. Of the many articles I found online there was one called "Style Your Sony F35" (http://www.fdtimes.com/2009/12/04/style-your-sony-f35/) which has an F35 set-up custom made by Otto Nemenz as the main image where the viewfinder is pointing directly towards the cameraman and not to the side as all the standard F35s are. I looked everywhere to find the bracket and the eyepiece to be able to position the viewfinder like that on my camera, but after extensive searching, gave up as they cannot be found. So some time went by and I had this nagging thought of wanting to position my viewfinder like the photo in that article. Finally I decided to make the pieces myself. Since I am quite proficient with 3D modelling and I recently purchased a 3D printer, I decided to make my own custom pieces to create a similar setup for my camera. And so a few months ago, after a some prototype pieces, I finally produced the final parts that work flawlessly. Of course they are made of plastic, but I designed them to be very sturdy and in fact hold up very well, and they are extremely light.

Along with these custom made pieces I updated my setup with the addition of a Zoom H6 recorder and stereo shotgun mic attachment and a Lensse dual-sided Follow Focus - an inexpensive but awesome follow focus system with no play whatsoever. I re-balanced the camera with everything attached and achieved my Ultimate F35 Set-Up. I was waiting for when I had a bit of time to take some nicely lit detailed pictures, but realize that I won't have the time. So today I decided to "F-it" and just take some quick photos with my phone and post them here for all of you to enjoy. So here they are:



As I mentioned up above this will be my penultimate thread. My next and final one will be in the marketplace. My life is taking a different direction where I will not be able to dedicate the time to use this incredible camera and the supporting accessories to their full potential, so I have decided to let it all go.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone here for their help and support. It has been a pleasure to meet and chat with all of you in these past couple of years, it has been an inspiration to see your work and an honor to have you evaluate the little work I posted.

I wish you all a happy journey through life and a prosperous career.

Cheers,
Igor

 

[JMtheDP]

Igor. This setup is a credit to you.

 

[Samana76]

James, thank you for your comment. I really REALLY like this final setup. You really need to try it to feel how well balanced and comfortable it is. For being a relatively large and heavy camera, with all it's necessary accessories, I think this truly is an achievement. As I said I'm sorry to let her go, but I trust she'll go to a good home and that all the time and effort I put into making this setup will be put to good use by some great cinematographer.

 

[macgregor]

How are you flipping the image in the sony LCD/evf?

Oh, wait, i guess you don't need to do that.

 

[yachacha]

how much for the 3d printed parts to do this to another viewfinder??

 

[yachacha]

I gotta say, I've been thinking about your EVF since you posted those photos. Don't get me wrong, the Codex setup is awesome, but they probably had hundreds of thousands of dollars to develop. You did some incredible reverse engineering I'm sure with only free time.

If you are willing, could you most more photos of the EVF from above. What are the parts you made? Does your camera still have the Otto top plate? How did you get the EVF to mount parallel instead of perpendicular to the camera. I can't figure out what you did and what came with your camera, from the looks of it the light grey pieces are your parts.

I know exactly what you are talking about with the Sony EVF, everyone tilts their head funny to look into it. I've never even considered a Sony EVF for this reason.

You have made the Sony EVF so much more interesting. This is really great work, if you don't have the time I would even be interested in purchase of the CAD models of the parts and I will find someone to print.

Even the mounting of the LCD so you can face towards yourself is much more useful than the Sony method.

 

[JMtheDP]

What Igor did with his EVF is not that dissimilar to what Panavision eventually did with theirs on the Genesis. They turned it 90 degrees so you looked straight at the screen, and then for the extension it was an empty box with wires on that moved the screen closer to you, rather than one of the elaborate extension tubes.

If anyone wants an extension eyepiece, I do have one...

 

[Samana76]

Hey guys,

I'm glad you like the 3D printed viewfinder mount I made. I'm sorry for not responding quickly, but as I mentioned in the first post I don't have too much time. In any case, as I would like to share details on the mount I will try to find time this Sunday to take more detailed photos of the mount itself and also how I disabled the flip switch on the Sony viewfinder so that the image does not flip when I attach the eyepiece to the monitor as it does for the default Sony eyepiece with the mirror.

Yachacha I think the Sony viewfinder is great, actually. The only issue I was having with it is that the eyepiece with the mirror is a bit too bulky and would hit my mattebox and also I wanted to be able to use it as a ~2.5" monitor quickly by simply removing the eyepiece instead of having to swap out the whole viewfinder for an external monitor. If you are interested in purchasing the two parts - one is to orient the viewfinder at 90 degrees to the default orientation so that it is facing the camerman, the other part is so you can attach a loupe to the viewfinder (I used a cheap one made for the Canon 5D Mark II, which works surprisingly well. Actually I get a brighter and sharper image than the the original Sony one!) - I can sell these for $40 for the 90 degree mount and $10 for the loupe mount, plus shipping. For the loupe mount you will then have to glue on a loupe to it like I did for mine. In any case I will show all of this in the photos this Sunday so that you can decide if you want to buy them or not.

Gotta go.

Cheers everyone and thanks for the interest my setup.
Igor

 

[Samana76]

Here are the photos I promised. Enjoy.

Ask me questions if you have any.

Cheers,
Igor

 

[yachacha]

Thanks a lot for this, I am very interested, now I need to track down a viewfinder to mod like yours.

Are you sure you can't keep your F35, I know money and time are always the problem, but you obviously have put love into this camera.